No Evidence for Transactional Effects Between Religiosity and Self-Esteem in a Secular Country

Abstract

This research tests the unique predictions of three different theoretical perspectives on the self-esteem benefits of religiosity: the religiosity-as-a-personal-relationship-with-a-higher-power perspective, the religiosity-as-a-resource perspective, and the religiosity-as-social-value perspective. To do so, we used random-intercept cross-lagged panel models and examined the between- and within-person associations between three indicators of religiosity (belief in God, service attendance, and prayer frequency) and self-esteem across 11 annual assessments in a nationally representative sample of Dutch individuals ( N = 12,915). The results reveal largely nonsignificant associations between all three religiosity indicators and self-esteem at the between- and the within-person levels. This finding supports the religiosity-as-a-social-value perspective, suggesting that the self-esteem benefits of religiosity are restricted to religious cultures only. This research extends previous research by showing that the results hold across different measures of religiosity and by providing some initial evidence that the power of the religiosity-as-a-social-value perspective might be larger than formerly assumed.

Psychological change before and after religious conversion and deconversion

“…Consistent with this perspective, meta-analytic evidence (Koenig, 2012) suggests that religious people experience more positive emotions, have higher self-esteem, and report more life satisfaction than nonreligious people. Notably, these psychological adjustment benefits appear to be more pronounced in less affluent societies with higher rates of religiosity, whereas religious and nonreligious people appear to have more similar levels of psychological wellbeing in secular societies with more favorable circumstances (Berkessel et al, 2021;Entringer et al, 2023). Compared to the broad evidence for cross-sectional associations, there is little longitudinal evidence for effects of religious de/conversion on psychological adjustment.…”

“…The full data are available on request at https://www.lissd ata.nl/. We have used data from this panel to examine questions about the development of personality differences and religiosity (e.g., Entringer et al, 2023;Lenhausen et al, 2023;Olaru et al, 2023). No previous research has used these data to examine psychological change before and after religious conversion and deconversion, which was the primary goal of this study.…”

“…At every wave, we assessed three indicators of participants' religious beliefs and practice: (1) belief in God, (2) the frequency with which participants attended religious gatherings, and (3) the frequency with which they prayed (see also, Bleidorn et al, 2022;Entringer et al, 2023;Lenhausen et al, 2023). Specifically, participants reported their belief in God using the item "Which of the following statements best matches your idea of God?"…”